Peter Stuyvesant | Dutch colonial governor | Britannica.com Dutch colonial governor Peter Stuyvesant, Dutch Petrus Stuyvesant (born c. 1592, Scherpenzeel, Friesland , Netherlands —died February 1672, near New York , New York [U.S.]), Dutch colonial governor who tried to resist the English seizure of New York. Peter Stuyvesant. The Print Collector/Heritage-Images Stuyvesant was the son of a Calvinist minister. He began his career in the Dutch West India Company about 1632, and in 1643 he became director in the company’s colonies of Curaçao , Aruba, and Bonaire. During an expedition against the Portuguese island of Saint Martin , his right leg was severely injured and had to be amputated. Thereafter he wore a wooden leg. In 1645 he became director general of all Dutch possessions in North America and the Caribbean. Almost immediately upon his arrival in New Amsterdam (later New York City ) in 1647, his conflict with the burghers began.

They were alienated by his despotic methods and his devotion to the interest of the company. In response to their demands for self-government, he and the council in 1647 appointed an advisory board of nine, and in 1653 there was established the first municipal government for the city of New Amsterdam, modeled after the cities of Holland. Those concessions proved hollow, for Stuyvesant never ceased to dominate the government. In 1650 he sacrificed a large amount of territory in a settlement of the boundary between New Netherland and Connecticut. But he succeeded in dislodging the Swedes from their settlement in Dutch territory along the Delaware River and in establishing peace with the Indians there. In August 1664, when the burghers refused to aid him, Stuyvesant was forced to surrender New Netherland to the British. According to some historians, the West India Company made him the scapegoat for what actually were defects in company policies. He spent the remainder of his life on his farm, “the Bouwerie” (from which New York City’s Bowery takes its name).

Learn More in these related articles: Peter Stuyvesant 1592-1672 < Biographies < American History From Revolution To Reconstruction and beyond Peter Stuyvesant 1592-1672 Dutch Governor of the New Netherlands Peter Stuyvesant (also known as Pietrus Stuyvesant), the son of a clergyman of Friesland, was born in the Netherlands in 1592. Stuyvesant served in the Dutch Army before receiving his appointment as director-general of New Netherland in 1646. He had served in the West Indies and was governor of the colony of Curacoa. He lost a leg during the unsuccessful assault on the Portuguese island of St. Martin, after which he returned to the Netherlands in 1644. Two years later he was appointed director-general of New Netherlands, and took the oath of office on 28 July, 1646. He sailed to the new world and reached New Amsterdam on May 11, 1647. Soon after his inauguration on 27 May he organized a council and established a court of justice.

In deference to the popular will, he ordered a general election of eighteen delegates, from whom the governor and his council selected a board of nine, whose power was advisory and not legislative. A dictatorial leader, Stuyvesant was unpopular with the other settlers. However, during his eighteen year administration, the population grew from 2,000 to 8,000. Immediately after his arrival he tried to reorganize the colony: he ordered the strict observance of Sunday rest and prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages and weapons to the Indians. He also tried to increase state-income by heavier taxation on imports. To improve the quality of the colony he stimulated the colonists to build better houses and taverns, and established a market and an annual cattle-fair. He also showed interest in founding a public school. He tried to settel an old problem: the wuestion of the bounderies with other colonies. However, the government of the New England colony could not accept his terms. Because of the Dutch claim of jurisdiction in Connecticut he also became involved in a controversy with Governor of that colony. The first two years of his administration were not successful.

He had serious discussions with the patroons, who interfered with the company's trade and denied the authority of the governor, and he was also embroiled in contentions with the council, which sent a deputation to the Hague to report the condition of the colony to the states-general. This report was published as " Vertoogh van Nieuw Netherlandt" (The Hague, 1650). The states-general afterward commanded Stuyvesant to appear personally in Holland; but the order was not confirmed by the Amsterdam chamber, and Stuyvesant refused to obey, saying, " I shall do as I please." In September, 1650, a meeting of the commissioners on boundaries took place in Hartford, whither Stuyvesant travelled in state. The line was arranged much to the dissatisfaction of the Dutch, who declared that "the governor had ceded away enough territory to found fifty colonies each fifty miles square." Stuyvesant grew haughty in his treatment of his opponents, and threatened to dissolve the council. A plan of municipal government was finally arranged in Holland, and the name of the new city of New Amsterdam--was officially announced on 2 February, 1653.

Stuyvesant made a speech on this occasion, knowing that his authority would remain undiminished. The governor was now ordered to Holland again ; but the order was soon revoked on the declaration of war with England. Stuyvesant prepared against an attack by ordering his subjects to make a ditch from the North river to the East river, and to erect breastworks. In 1665 he sailed into the Delaware with a fleet of seven vessels and about 700 men and took possession of the colony of New Sweden, which he called New Amstel. In his absence New Amsterdam was ravaged by Indians, but his return inspired confidence. Although he organized militia and fortified the town, he subdued the hostile savages chiefly through kind treatment. In 1653 a convention of two deputies from each village in New Netherlands had demanded reforms, and Stuyvesant commanded this assembly to disperse, saying" "We derive our authority from God and the company, not from a few ignorant subjects." The spirit of resistance nevertheless increased, and the encroachments of other colonies, with a depleted treasury, harassed the governor. In 1664 Charles II.

ceded to his brother, the Duke of York, a large tract of land, including New Netherlands; and four English war vessels bearing 450 men, commanded by Captain Richard Nicholls, took possession of the harbor. On 30 August Sir George Cartwright bore to the governor a summons to surrender, promising life, estate, and liberty to all who would submit to the king's authority. Stuyvesant read the letter before the council, and, fearing the concurrence of the people, tore it into pieces. On his appearance, the people who had assembled around the city-hall greeted him with shouts of "The letter ! the letter ! " and, returning to the council-chamber, he gathered up the fragments, which he gave to the burgomasters to do with the order as they pleased. He sent a defiant answer to Nicholls, and ordered the troops to prepare for an attack, but yielded to a petition of the citizens not to shed innocent blood, and signed a treaty at his Bouwerie house on 9 September, 1664. The burgomasters proclaimed Nicholls governor, and the town was called New York.

In 1665 Stuyvesant went to Holland to report, and labored to secure from the king the satisfaction of the sixth article in the treaty with Nicholls, which granted free trade. During his administration commerce had increased greatly, the colony obtaining the privilege of trading with Brazil in 1648, with Africa for slaves in 1652, and with other foreign ports in 1659. Stuyvesant endeavored unsuccessfully to introduce a specie currency and to establish a mint in New Amsterdam. He was a thorough conservative in church as well as state, and intolerant of any approach to religious freedom. He refused to grant, a meeting-house to the Lutherans, who were growing numerous, drove their minister from the colony, and frequently punished religious offenders by fines and imprisonment. On his return from Holland after the surrender, he spent the remainder of his life on his farm of sixty-two acres outside the city, called the Great Bouwerie, beyond which stretched woods and swamps to the little village of Haarlem (Harlem). The house, a stately specimen of Dutch architecture, was erected at a cost of 6,400 guilders, and stood near what is now Eighth street.

Its gardens and lawn were tilled by about fifty negro slaves. A pear-tree which he brought from Holland in 1647 remained at the corner of Thirteenth street and Third avenue until 1867, bearing fruit almost to the last. The house was destroyed by fire in 1777. He also built an executive mansion of hewn stone called Whitehall, which stood on the street that now bears that name. Stuyvesant continued to live on his estate on Manhattan Island until his death in 1672. Peter Stuyvesant facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Peter Stuyvesant COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant (ca. 1610-1672), Dutch director general of the New Netherland colony in America, was compelled to surrender his colony to England. The last and most efficient of Dutch proconsuls in the European struggle for control of North America, Peter Stuyvesant is remembered as the stubborn, somewhat choleric governor of the Dutch West India Company's base on the mainland.

A zealous Calvinist, he brought a relatively effective government to the colony, absorbed the nearby rival Swedish settlements, and attempted to remold New Netherland in his own and the company's image. His efforts at reform were cut short with the seizure of New Amsterdam (later, New York) by a British force in 1664. Born at Scherpenzeel, Friesland, Stuyvesant was the son of a Calvinist Dutch Reformed minister. He attended school in Friesland, where he heard much about New Netherland and about Holland's war with Spain. He became a student at the University of Franeker but was apparently expelled, for reasons unknown, about 1629. Patriotic, and desiring adventure, Stuyvesant entered the service of the Dutch West India Company—first as a clerk and then, in 1635, as a supercargo to Brazil. By 1638 he had become chief commercial officer for Curaçao; in 1643 he returned there as governor. The following year he led an unsuccessful attack against the Portuguese colony of St. Martin in the Leeward Islands.

During the siege he was wounded in the right leg, and the crude amputation required resulted in a lengthy convalescence and a trip to Holland to obtain an artificial limb. (Because of its adornments ments, he was thereafter often nicknamed "Silver Leg.") In Breda he married Judith Bayard, the sister of his brother-in-law. On Oct. 5, 1645, Stuyvesant came before the chamber of the nearly bankrupt West India Company and volunteered his services for New Netherland. The next July he was appointed director general of that colony. On Christmas Day he sailed for America with four vessels carrying soldiers, servants, traders, and a new set of officials. Also on board were his widowed sister and her children, together with his wife. The ships, proceeding by way of Curaçao, arrived at New Amsterdam on May 11, 1647, to be greeted by cheering settlers. The inhabitants soon learned, however, that their new governor was not so liberal as themselves. Stuyvesant's first domestic order restricted sale of intoxicants and compelled observance of the Sabbath. He became a church warden of the Reformed congregation and commenced rebuilding its edifice.

Clerics and councilmen easily persuaded him (in a move aimed at Lutherans and Quakers) to forbid meetings not conforming to the Synod of Dort. Though Amsterdam reproved him on this point and counseled tolerance, under the narrowly religious Stuyvesant dissent was always frowned upon. Though harsh and dictatorial, Stuyvesant introduced a number of needed reforms, particularly directed toward improving New Amsterdam's living conditions. He appointed fire wardens and ordered chimney inspections, instituted a weekly market and annual cattle fair, required bakers to use standard weights, somewhat controlled traffic and sanitation, repaired the fort, and licensed taverns. Stuyvesant concerned himself about all aspects of town life. He organized a night watch, had streets paved, encouraged local bakeries and breweries, and promoted the colony's commerce whenever possible. Stuyvesant expected the people to obey his will and opposed the New Amsterdam citizen's desire for a separate municipal government for the city, but he early established the Board of Nine Men to advise him in promoting the public welfare.

Citizens found onerous his diligent attempts to enforce Dutch trading restrictions and to collect taxes and tolls—though when their "Remonstrance" to Holland finally procured a distinct government for New Amsterdam (1653), they continued their delinquency about such obligations. One of Stuyvesant's first official acts was to organize a naval expedition against the Spaniards operating within the limits of the West India Company's charter. A force sent against Ft. Christina in 1655 conquered Sweden's province on the Delaware River and absorbed the settlements into New Netherland. Peace was made with marauding Native Americans, and captive Dutch colonists were ransomed. Stuyvesant promoted trading relations with New England and succeeded in achieving a modus vivendi respecting the troublesome boundary with Connecticut. In 1657 he granted a system of "burgher rights, " providing (at a price) eligibility for trading and office holding; at first limited to New Amsterdam, this came to apply throughout the province.

The governor's salary plus allowances (approximately $1, 600, all told) enabled Stuyvesant to purchase a bouwerie, or farm, of 300 acres north of the city wall and a town lot for a house with gardens beside the fort. He lived comfortably in these, and his two sons were both born in New Amsterdam. In 1664, while England and Holland were still at peace, Charles II decided to seize New Netherland for his brother James, Duke of York. When four British warships under Col. Richard Nicolls reached New Amsterdam, the colony was completely unprepared. Stuyvesant wanted to resist this aggression, but word of Nicolls's lenient terms eroded his already scanty support, and after lengthy negotiations he capitulated on September 7. He obtained provisional trading rights for the West India Company in the province and, to defend his official conduct, went to Amsterdam in 1665—though his evidence as to the company's neglect of colonial defense did not endear him to its directors. Returning to New York in 1668, Stuyvesant retired to his farm until his death in February 1672.

Further Reading Henry Kessler and Eugene Rachlis, Peter Stuyvesant and His New York (1959), is the most scholarly and readable study of Stuyvesant. Informative is John Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland (1909; new ed. 1952). Bayard Tuckerman, Peter Stuyvesant (1893), although outdated, is valuable. Hendrick Willem Van Loon, Life and Times of Pieter Stuyvesant (1918), provides a provocative character interpretation. Additional Sources Picard, Hymen Willem Johannes, Peter Stuyvesant, builder of New York, Cape Town: Hollandsch Afrikaansche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1975. □ Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. MLA The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright The Columbia University Press Peter Stuyvesant (stī´vəsənt), c.1610–1672, Dutch director-general of New Netherland.

He served as governor of Curaçao and lost a leg in an expedition against St. Martin before succeeding Willem Kieft in New Netherland. On his arrival (1647) in New Amsterdam (later New York City), he immediately informed the colonists of his autocratic intentions. He set up a board of nine men to advise him but dissolved it (1651) when they asked for redress of their grievances in a remonstrance to the Dutch government. As a result of this petition, however, Holland granted (1653) municipal government to New Amsterdam. Nevertheless, Stuyvesant continued his harsh rule and was intolerant of religious dissenters, especially Quakers. While he lost territory to Connecticut (1650), he expanded the colony by conquering New Sweden (1655). Overwhelmed by a surprise English attack, Stuyvesant surrendered New Netherland to England in 1664. He spent the rest of his life on his Manhattan farm and was buried there under his chapel, now the site of a church, St. Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie. See E. L.

Raesly, Portrait of New Netherland (1945, repr. 1965); H. H. Kessler and E. Rachlis, Peter Stuyvesant and His New York (1959). Cite this article Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant Asher B. Durand (1796–1886), Peter Stuyvesant and the Trumpeter, 1835. Oil on canvas. New-York Historical Society, Gift of the New-York Gallery of the Fine Arts, 1858.28 "Peg-legged" Peter Stuyvesant was the last director general of New Netherland. Born in the Netherlands to a minister, he joined the West India Company when he was a young man, and became the director of the Dutch West India Company’s colony in Curaçao in 1642. That’s where he lost his leg, in an attack on the Spanish-held island of Saint Martin. Peter Stuyvesant had a reputation for being a tough, rule-bound leader.

In 1647 he began his tenure as director general of New Netherland, immediately attempting to reform the colony by regulating liquor sales, and punishing those who were not members of the Dutch Reformed church. As a result of his strict rule, the people of New Amsterdam put up little resistance when English warships showed up in 1664, and Stuyvesant was forced to surrender the city to the English. Peter Stuyvesant returned to Holland, but later settled in New York on his “Bouwerie.” He died in 1672, and his body is entombed in St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery on 10th Street and 2nd Avenue, which sits atop the site of the old Stuyvesant family chapel. Audio/Video Programs Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant Location of death: New York City Cause of death: unspecified Remains: Buried, St. Mark's Church, Manhattan, NY Gender: Male Nationality: Netherlands Executive summary: Dutch colonial governor Dutch colonial governor, born in Scherpenzeel, in southern Friesland, in 1592, the son of a minister.

He studied at Franeker, entered the military service in the West Indies about 1625, and was director of the West India Company's colony of Cura�ao from 1634 to 1644. In April 1644 he attacked the Portuguese island of Saint Martin and was wounded; he had to return to Holland, and there one of his legs was amputated. Thereafter he wore a wooden leg ornamented with silver bands. In May 1645 he was selected by the West India Company to supersede William Kieft as director of New Netherland. He arrived in New Amsterdam (later New York City) on the 11th of May 1647, and was received with great enthusiasm.

In response to the demand for self-government, in September 1647 he and the council appointed -- after the manner then followed in Holland -- from eighteen representatives chosen by the people a board of nine to confer with him and the council whenever he thought it expedient to ask their advice; three of the nine, selected in rotation, were permitted to sit with the council during the trial of civil cases; and six were to retire each year, their successors to be chosen by the director and council from twelve candidates nominated by the board. The leading burghers were, however, soon alienated by his violent and despotic methods, by his defense of Kieft, and by his devotion to the interests of the company; the nine men became (as early as 1649, when they sent the famous Vertoogh, or Remonstrance, to the states-general asking for burgher government and other reforms) the center of municipal discontent; and a bitter quarrel ensued.

In 1650 the states-general suggested a representative government to go into effect in 1653, but the company opposed it; in 1653, however, there was established the first municipal government for the city of New Amsterdam modelled after that of the cities of Holland. Stuyvesant also aroused opposition through his efforts to increase the revenues of the company, to improve the system of defense, and to prevent the sale of liquor and firearms to the Indians, and through his persecution of Lutherans and Quakers, to which the company finally put an end. He had a bitter controversy with the patroon of Rensselaerwyck, who claimed to be independent of the West India Company. In 1647 he seized a Dutch ship illegally trading at New Haven and claimed jurisdiction as far as Cape Cod; the New Haven authorities refused to deliver to him fugitives from justice in Manhattan; he retaliated by offering refuge to runaways from New Haven; but finally he offered pardon to the Dutch fugitives and revoked his proclamation.

In September 1650 he came to an agreement with the commissioners of the United Colonies of New England at Hartford upon the boundary between New Netherland and Connecticut, involving the sacrifice of a large amount of territory, the new boundary crossing Long Island from the west side of Oyster Bay to the Atlantic Ocean, and on the mainland north from a point west of Greenwich Bay, 4 miles from Stamford. On Long Island, during Stuyvesant's rule, Dutch influence was gradually undermined by John Underhill. Stuyvesant's dealings with the Swedes were more successful. With a force of seven hundred men he sailed into the Delaware in 1655, captured Fort Casimir (Newcastle) -- which Stuyvesant had built in 1651 and which the Swedes had taken in 1654 -- and overthrew the Swedish authority in that region. He also vigorously suppressed Indian uprisings in 1655, 1658 and 1663.

In March 1664 King Charles II granted to his brother, the Duke of York, the territory between the Connecticut river and Delaware Bay, and Colonel Richard Nicolls with a fleet of four ships and about three or four hundred men was sent out to take possession. Misled by instructions from Holland that the expedition was directed wholly against New England, Stuyvesant made no preparation for defense until just before the fleet arrived. As the burghers refused to support him, Stuyvesant was compelled to surrender the town and fort on the 8th of September. He returned to Holland in 1665 and was made a scapegoat by the West India Company for all its failings in New Amsterdam; he went back to New York again after the treaty of Breda in 1667, having secured the right of free trade between Holland and New York. He spent the remainder of his life on his farm called the Bouwerie, from which the present "Bowery" in New York City takes its name. He died in February 1672, and was buried in a chapel, on the site of which in 1799 was erected St. Mark's Church.

An elite school, Stuyvesant High School in New York City, is named for him. Governor of New Netherland (1646-64) Peter Stuyvesant, Biography Peter Stuyvesant 1592-1672 "A tough, sturdy, valiant, weather-beaten, mettlesome, obstinate, leathern-sided, lion-hearted, generous-spirited old governor" - this is the description given by Washington Irving in his 'Knickerbocker's History of New York' of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New York - or "New Amsterdam," as it was then called. Stuyvesant had served in the West Indies as governor of one of the islands, and for his good services there was appointed, in 1647, by the Dutch West India Company as the governor of their colony of New Amsterdam. He had lost a leg in the service of the company in the West Indies, but his wooden leg has done more to preserve his fame in history than any other one thing. According to tradition, when the assembly of New Amsterdam went contrary to his wishes, he would stamp his wooden leg and roar at them.

Stuyvesant brought to his work a determination to be "as a father over his children," and he immediately set about trying to reform abuses with a commendable enthusiasm. His despotic character and his blunt manners, coupled with his efforts at reform, soon won him many enemies. He tried to regulate the sale of liquor, and forbade its being sold to the Indians at any time, but his orders were disregarded. He attempted to regulate the fur trade so as to give the inhabitants of New Amsterdam a monopoly of it, but smuggling became prevalent. His severity in punishing those who would not conform to the Dutch Reformed church, and his refusal to allow the people a share in the government, increased the hatred which most of the settlers felt toward him. As a result of this trouble, when war arose between England and Holland and English warships appeared in New York harbor in 1664, although the city was defended by a stone fort and 20 cannon, the people refused to resist the invaders. So Stuyvesant was forced to surrender the town to the English, and New Amsterdam became New York.

Stuyvesant returned to Holland, but when the Dutch West India Company blamed him for all of their misfortunes in the New World, he returned to America and spent the rest of his life on his farm, or "Bouwerie," as it was called in Dutch. On the site of this farm now runs the street called after it the "Bowery," on the lower east side. Slab marking the tomb of Peter Stuyvesant, outer wall of St. Mark's Church, New York. In this Vault lies buried Petrus Stuyvesant late Captain General and Governor in Chief of Amsterdam In New Netherland now called New York. And the Dutch West India Islands. Died A.D. 1671-2 Aged 80 years. Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant [1610-1672] Early Founder/Historic Leader Peter Stuyvesant, also known as Petrus Stuyvesant, is an important figure in the history of New York City [earlier New Amsterdam], New York State and New Netherland.

His name is still commonly used, especially in New York State, for street names, school names, building names, etc. A British-German-Danish cigarette brand is also named after him. Surprisingly, his ancestors no longer bear his name. His last direct descendant, Augustus Van Horne Stuyvesant Jr. died in 1953 at age 83 in New York City. A nineteenth century Stuyvesant descendant, Rutherford Stuyvesant, changed his name to Stuyvesant Rutherford in 1863 to satisfy the terms of a will. The paucity of descendants bearing his name may have something to do with the fact that Peter Stuyvesant has been blamed for turning over New Amsterdam to the British in 1664. The blame is not quite fair, because the citizens of New Amsterdam refused to help defend the city against a fleet of British warships. As a result Stuyvesant was forced to hand the city of New Amsterdam over to the British who promptly renamed it New York.

Peter, or Petrus, Stuyvesant was, according to some sources, born in Scherpenzeel, a town near the provincial border of Gelderland and Utrecht, and not far from the bustling city of Amsterdam in 1610. Other sources claim his birthplace is identified as Peperga in Friesland, and that claim may be correct because he apparently had attended the University of Franeker, located in Northern Friesland. Prior to becoming Director-General, essentially Governor, of New Amsterdam, Stuyvesant had served as a Director of the ABC Islands in the West Indies. The ABC Islands consisted of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. In both capacities he was in the employ of the Dutch West India [DWI] Company, a large and influential Dutch trading company. There was little Dutch government activity in the management of DWI because the Dutch, during the period 1568-1648, were actively fighting for their independence from the Spanish colonialists, and the government was not in a position to also manage its own colonies. It had in essence outsourced this activity to the DWI.

During his directorship of the ABC islands, Stuyvesant had lost his right leg in a skirmish with either the Portuguese or the Spanish. As a result he spent the rest of his life on a peg leg. His disability did not generate much mercy among his citizens who called him peg leg Stuyvesant. Stuyvesant was rather authoritarian with his subjects and he is frequently depicted as despotic. He refused to share power with the citizens of the new colony of New Amsterdam. He also tried to control the Dutch Reformed Church and even banned some of its ministers from the colony. When alcohol consumption became a problem in the colony he tried to control it and regulate the sale of it. When other religious groups such as Jews, Lutherans and Quakers tried to establish houses of worship he banned them. In other words he made no attempts to endear himself to the citizenry and to gain their support. The stand off between Stuyvesant and the citizens became so severe that the directors of DWI in Amsterdam even became involved in it. They forced Stuyvesant to modify his strict rules and regulations.

So when the British Navy reached New Amsterdam in 1664, Stuyvesant's call to man the ramparts fell on deaf ears. The city surrendered to the British, who then proceeded to not only take over New Amsterdam but all of New Netherland which included all of New York State and parts of New England and New Jersey. It would be unfair not to look at the positive aspects of Stuyvesant's eighteen year rule over the colony of New Amsterdam. During his rule the population expanded from 2,000 to 8,000, trade flourished and he was able to establish a sense of law and order in the community populated by people from many countries and many backgrounds. He also followed the directives of his bosses at DWI closely. Following the surrender of New Amsterdam to the British, Stuyvesant, as a dutiful servant of the DWI, sailed back to the headquarters of DWI in Amsterdam. He did not receive a hearty welcome, but a dressing down for causing the loss of New Amsterdam to the British. Stuyvesant returned to what was then called New York, formerly New Amsterdam, and settled down on his farm on the bowery.

The area where his farm stood is still called the Bowery today. Stuyvesant passed away in 1672. His remains were buried in a vault at St. Mark's Church in New York City. The slab covering the tomb states: "In this vault lies buried Petrus Stuyvesant late Captain General and Governor in Chief of Amsterdam in New Netherland now called New York and the Dutch West India Islands. Died 1671-1672. Aged 80 Years." Peter Stuyvesant the last of the Dutch governors in New Amsterdam History of Holland > New Amsterdam history (New York) > Peter Stuyvesant the last of the Dutch governors in New Amsterdam Peter Stuyvesant the last of the Dutch governors in New Amsterdam It was some day for the little colony of New Amsterdam, that May morning in the year 1647, when a one-legged man landed at the lower part of the island, and stumped his way up the path that led to the fort. Not only everyone that lived in the town gathered there, but everyone on the island, and many from more distant parts.

There were Indians, too, who walked sedately, their quiet serenity in strange contrast to the colonists, who yelled and shouted for joy, and clapped their hands at every salute from the guns. And when the fort was reached (it was only a few steps from the river-bank) the man with the wooden leg turned to those who followed him. The guns were silent, and the people stood still. "I shall govern you," said he, "as a father does his children." Then there were more shouts, and more booming of cannon, and the name of Peter Stuyvesant was on every tongue. For the man with a wooden leg was Peter Stuyvesant, the new Governor appointed by the West India Company, and not one of those who shouted that day had an idea that he was to be the last of the Dutch governors. Stuyvesant had long been in the employ of the West India Company, and his leg had been shot off in a battle while he was in their service. He was a stern man, with a bad temper, and seemed to have made it a point in life never to yield to anyone in anything.

He ruled in the way he thought best, and he let it always be understood that he did not care much for the advice of others. He did what he could for the people to make their life as happy as possible. Of course he had orders from the "West Indische Compagnie" (Dutch West India Company) that he was bound to obey, and these orders did not always please the people. But his rule was just, and he was the most satisfactory of all the Dutch governors. Stuyvesant's first work was to put the city in better condition. He did this by having the vacant lots about the fort either built upon or cleared. The hog-pens which had been in front of the houses were taken away. All the fences were put in repair, and where weeds had grown rank, they were replaced by pretty gardens. These, and a great many other things he did, until the town took on quite a new air. Up to this time the people had been ruled by governors who did all things just as they saw fit. They became tired of this, and complained so much that the Company in Holland decided to make a change.

So after Stuyvesant had been Governor for a while, some other officers were appointed to help him. There was one officer called a schout, very much the same as a mayor is in these days. Two others were called burgomasters, and five others were called schepens. The burgomasters and the schepens presided over the trials, in the stone tavern which Governor Kieft had built at Coenties Slip, and which had now become the Stadt Huys or City Hall. With the appointment of these officers, New Amsterdam became a city. But as Governor Stuyvesant named the officers and as he plainly told them that they must not interfere with his orders, and as he still had his own way, regardless of what the officers said and did, the colony was little different as a city from what it had been before. In the fall of this year, 1652, war was declared between England and Holland. Stuyvesant, fearing that the English in New England, which was on the borders of New Netherland, would attack the city, set about fortifying it.

The fence that Governor Kieft had built so that the cattle could not wander away was changed into a wall that extended from river to river. The fort was repaired, and a strong body of citizens mounted guard by day and by night. Everything was prepared for an attack. But the enemy did not come after all. Matters went along quietly enough for three years, until some Swedes on the Delaware River began to build houses on Dutch lands. Then Stuyvesant, with 160 men, in 7 ships, sailed around to the Delaware River, and conquered the Swedes. It was quite ten years since the Indian war, and Stuyvesant, by his kindness, had made friends of the savages, and had come to be called their "great friend," But soon after he left to make war on the Swedes, one of the colonists killed an Indian. In a few days there was an uprising of Indian tribes. In New Jersey and on Staten Island they murdered colonists, burned houses, and laid farms waste. Stuyvesant hurriedly returned. He made peace with the Indians, treating them kindly, as though there had never been any trouble.

He gave them presents, and used such gentle measures that the war which had threatened to be so serious ended abruptly. In the calmer days that followed, attention was given to improvements in the city. By this time there were around 1,000 persons on the island. Streets were nicely laid out, and the city of New Amsterdam grew, day by day. It was a tiny place still, however, for it all lay below the present Wall Street. Some distance beyond the city wall was a fenced-in pasture for cattle, which was later to become The Common, and still later City Hall Park. Farther on there was a wide lake, so deep that it was thought to be bottomless. On its banks were a vast heap of oyster-shells, where an Indian village had been. This place was called Kalch-hook, or Shell-point. Afterward it was shortened to The Kalch, and in time was called The Collect. The lake was called Collect Lake. There is no trace of it today, for it was filled in, and the Tombs Prison now stands upon the spot. The entire province was in a flourishing condition, but danger was near.

The English had long looked with covetous eye upon the possessions of the Dutch in America. The English, it must be remembered, claimed not only New Netherland, but a great part of the American continent, on the plea that the Cabots had discovered it. After all this long time, when the Cabots had been forgotten by most persons, in the year 1664, Charles II. decided that the English claim was just, and gave New Netherland to his brother James, Duke of York. The Duke of York at once sent four ships filled with soldiers to take possession of his property. When the English war-ships sailed up the bay, the town was ill-protected, and the people had no desire to resist, for Stuyvesant and the West India Company had been most strict, and they hoped to be more free under English rule. Stuyvesant, with scarcely a supporter, stood firm and unyielding. He had no thought of submitting to superior force. "I would rather be carried out dead," he exclaimed. But when at length he realized that he was absolutely alone, and that there were no means of defence for the city, he surrendered.

On this same morning of September 8, 1664, Stuyvesant, with his head bowed sadly, marched at the head of his soldiers out of Fort Amsterdam, with flags flying and drums beating. And the English soldiers, who had landed, and were waiting a little way off, entered the fort with their flags flying and their drums beating. So the city of New Amsterdam became the city of New York, and the province of New Netherland became the province of New York, and Fort Amsterdam became Fort James - all this in honor of James, Duke of York, who now came into possession. Stuyvesant went to Holland to explain why he had surrendered New Netherland. But he came back again, and years after he died in the little Bouwerie Village which he had built. In St. Mark's Church to this day may be seen a tablet which tells that the body of the last Dutch Governor lies buried there. Encyclop�dia Britannica's Guide to Shakespeare The Print Collector/Heritage-Images Dutch colonial governor who tried to resist the English seizure of New York. Stuyvesant was the son of a Calvinist minister.

He began his career in the Dutch West India Company about 1632, and in 1643 he became director in the company's colonies of Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire. During an expedition against the Portuguese island of Saint Martin, his right leg was severely injured and had to be amputated. Thereafter he wore a wooden leg. In 1645 he became director general of all Dutch possessions in North America and the Caribbean. Almost immediately upon his arrival in New Amsterdam (later New York City) in 1647, his conflict with the burghers began. They were alienated by his despotic methods and his devotion to the interest of the company. In response to their demands for self-government, he and the council in 1647 appointed an advisory board of nine, and in 1653 there was established the first municipal government for the city of New Amsterdam, modeled after the cities of Holland. Those concessions proved hollow, for Stuyvesant never ceased to dominate the government. In 1650 he sacrificed a large amount of territory in a settlement of the boundary between New Netherland and Connecticut.

But he succeeded in dislodging the Swedes from their settlement in Dutch territory along the Delaware River and in establishing peace with the Indians there. In August 1664, when the burghers refused to aid him, Stuyvesant was forced to surrender New Netherland to the British. According to some historians, the West India Company made him the scapegoat for what actually were defects in company policies. He spent the remainder of his life on his farm, the Bouwerie (from which New York City's Bowery takes its name).

Question: Peter Stuyvesant, born in Holland, became Governor of which American city in 1647?
Answer: NEW YORK